


Echo of a Demon

by traipsingexodus



Category: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Friendship, Healing, Lost history, Original Village, Second Chances, The Frontier
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24674629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traipsingexodus/pseuds/traipsingexodus
Summary: O WHORE OF DARK BARGAINSO CHILD OF DESPERATE PLEASWHAT HELL HATH FATE WROUGHTAND THRUST UPON THEE?O SOUL, LOST AND FORGOTTENO FAITHFUL BEGGAR, PROSTRATEDTAKE HEART, HERE BE REDEMPTIONBUT AYE, YE BEST BELIEVEHERE BE MONSTERS, AND ONE YET LIVES IN THEE
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It is highly recommended that you read the following works before proceeding with "Echo of a Demon" in order to better understand Ran:  
> -Au Coup Par Coup  
> -Stolen Time  
> -Alive
> 
> If you choose not to, then I will make these three points: **Ran's name is deliberate** and **the use of the tag "Second Chances" is deliberate** and finally, **Ran is not a PMD protagonist.**

It was a sound like the crack of thunder. It was a flash like lightning. There was the pain of ears ringing, of the world falling out from beneath her feet, and the tightness in her chest that made her heart feel like it would burst. It was the Old Nightmare, as she'd come to know it. And the fog it cast in her mind clouded the world, lengthened shadows and darkened the trees. The spinning, the endless spinning of the soil beneath her, faster and faster.

And then it stopped, and from the clutches of the Old Nightmare she awoke, gasping. Her chest heaving like every time before, she got unsteadily to her feet and wiped the tears that pooled in the corners of her eyes. She called out to the foggy world around her in a small voice, fearful and desperate.

This land was not familiar.

This nightmare was not hers.

Terrified, clutching her clawed paws close to her chest and shivering she stepped through the looming trees, her eyes searching without seeing. It was worse than blindness, it was unknown.

These were not her trees.

She stumbled forward, claws digging into the soil beneath her, and with a fear of reprisal she hacked through the underbrush. Anywhere but here was better. Anywhere but here, where the Old Nightmare still stirred.

The brush fell away and showed her naught but more brush. Again and again, she swung her claws through the vegetation, but the green did not end. Her swings became heavy, desperate, and her face collapsed into despair, tracks of tears staining her blue fur the color of midnight.

There it was, once again. The clearing. The shaft of light. There it was, where the Old Nightmare lay.

She collapsed in the shaft of light and looked to the sky. Her vision swam with tears and she cried to heavens, raising her arms and begging:

"Where am I?"

And from the brush came her answer.

"A rather dangerous forest, I'd say." The voice became the figure of a lucario. On his arm, a length of cloth tied into a knot. Snow and midnight. His eyes found her and filled with comprehension and compassion. "You're confused. Lost. It's fine, it happens. I can help you."

Her voice was like cracked glass. "H-help...me?"

"Yes." He nodded and approached, offering her a paw to help her up. "It... is a thing I do. My name is Outrider. And you are?"

The crack of thunder. The flash of lighting. The spinning, the falling, the breathless screams. Her body was struck with uncontrolled shivers and she sagged down as her legs lost their strength and she nearly dragged Outrider down with her.

"Are- are you alright? Are your legs hurt?" he asked, his face lined with worry.

The weavile looked down at her legs and traced her eyes up to her chest. "I don't... remember my name." She began to hyperventilate. "I don't remember, I don't remember, I don't remember, I don't remember..."

Outrider seized her shoulders and stood her up. "Calm down," he said directly to her tear-streaked face. "Breathe. Think. Slowly and carefully."

She saw white sand, blue skies, wet caves and murky waters. The sounds of the Old Nightmare filled her head. One sound dominated it.

"R-ran."

"Pardon?" asked Outrider.

"Ran. My name. My name is Ran."

She was half right.

* * *

She did not know him, had no reason to trust him, but still Ran found herself comforted by Outrider's leadership. Perhaps it was the freedom from the forest behind them that wound into itself endlessly, or perhaps it was the fact she was no longer alone – whatever it may have been, she had reached some kind of peace.

But that was shattered not more than a few hundred paces into their journey. Outrider raised an arm and tossed a single hushed command at her: "Stop."

The brush before them rustled, and the figure of a scrafty materialized from it. The cold glare it wore, its bared teeth, and the slight hunch in its posture made its hostile intentions clear. Outrider put himself between Ran and the scrafty, raised his paws and took a defensive stance. "Save your energy. I don't know how long you were in that forest, but I have the energy for a fight."

Ran couldn't control the shaking in her body. She felt sick. Her stomach twirled in place, and her vision began to narrow as her head filled with cotton. Her arms, her legs – everything burned. Her breathing became uneven, like her lungs had suddenly shrunk, and she dropped down on all fours almost instinctively.

Outrider had not noticed, and rushed the scrafty a moment later, bringing a rising knee up into the lizard's stomach and launching it skyward. The lucario jumped up after it, his fist reared back, but instead met an axe kick that connected with the crown of his head and sent him back down to the ground with a crash. The scrafty landed heavily a few paces away, clutching his stomach, alive with rage.

"Don't... get involved." Outrider rubbed his head and groaned as he struggled to get up. "I can deal with this." On his feet and swaying slightly, the lucario shook his head and readied himself for the now charging scrafty.

Something in Ran urged her forward. Commanded her forward. Her limbs were not her own anymore. She tore forward and put herself between Outrider and the scrafty in a flash, and met the lizard's flying punch with claws interlocked to form a shield. The force of the impact sent jolts of pain through her paws and up her arms. It was almost excruciating. As the two fell back to the ground, she unlocked her claws and deflected a spinning kick, then caught a follow up punch, her claws like razors biting into the scrafty's arms.

The pokemon snarled in pain and dove away from Ran, his eyes searching her up and down as he fell back into his slouch.

And then something yanked Ran's mouth into a smile.

She bounded towards the scrafty, each step like a feather falling onto water, and dove at him with a hideous screech. She saw a fist come up and strike her squarely in the cheek, but it was too late. Her claws found purchase in his shoulder, embedding themselves nearly down the digits, and the howl of pain from the stuck lizard sent something in her chest soaring.

She kicked into the scrafty, her clawed toes digging into his leg and stomach and the pokemon fell backwards, bellowing. There was something else in the faraway din of her quarry's screams. No matter. The claws fell upon him, filling her vision with red. The screams were fading, and the thrashing beneath her was too.

There was so much red.

A gasp of glee fell from Ran's mouth, drummed up from somewhere past her lungs, past her stomach. Somewhere far away. After the Old Nightmare, the neverending trees, the hopelessness, after the blinding fear, she was soaked in joy.

Something collided with her head and her vision opened. The pinpricks that saw only a slack jaw and lifeless eyes became wide once more, and Ran saw the sky. Her chest heaved, her body ached, and the strings that made her weightless snapped. The last minute played in her head at top speed and horror filled her belly. She rolled over and gagged, retched, heaved but coughed up nothing more than spittle. She retched and coughed, clutching her stomach all the while, and then curled into a ball and sobbed into her paws.

She felt something kick her gently onto her back and peel the claws from her face. "By the graces of our forebears, what did you do?" Outrider filled her vision, his face distorted by her tears. Fear, confusion and concern lived side by side in his expression.

"I-I don't...I don't know." Ran looked away from him. "It just happened." She turned to look back at him. "Please believe me."

There was a pause, and then Outrider helped Ran up and gently dragged her over to the body of the scrafty. "Look."

"I don't want to." She stared determinedly up at the sky.

"Look."

"Please, I don't-"

"There is not one bloody creature where we are headed that has not looked the death of restraint in the eyes. Look or so help me I WILL MAKE YOU."

Her body seized with uncontrollable shivers, Ran slowly looked down at the dead scrafty. She turned away almost immediately and retched again. "I'm sorry."

"To me, or to this poor soul?" Outrider let go of her arm and sighed. "We have to make a stop somewhere, now. There is a small river not far from the path we were taking back to my village."

Ran chanced another glance at the scrafty and regretted it immediately as another dry heave gripped her. It was everywhere. She swung her vision past the corpse, directly at Outrider's retreating back. "Why a river?"

"You stink of blood and heat."

* * *

Ran sank into the water of the river and shivered. Pleasant though the temperature was, the sight of the water around her staining a deep red as the blood that had soaked onto her fur loosened and washed away made her feel uneasy.

"You don't talk much." She said this more to her wobbling, distorted knees beneath the rippling water than to Outrider, who stood a few feet away on the bank, washing his paws and face.

"Could say the same about you." He stood and shook the water as best as he could off his hands. "I was under the impression you weren't one to chat."

"What made you think that?" asked Ran, looking up at him.

"The silence."

"But you were..." Ran looked away and scratched her stomach. "I guess I should have been the one to talk, huh?"

"Doesn't matter, you were just scared. Silence is to be expected. That or being overly verbose I suppose." The sound of gently lapping water met Ran's ears as Outrider stepped into the river and walked over to her. "I wouldn't worry too much about what happened back there."

Ran stared back at Outrider, ashamed. "That doesn't help..."

"It happens to everyone at least once. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally."

"Really?"

"Yes. Whether it be from blind anger, poorly constrained strength, or even just naïve youth. To kill is unnecessary in all but the most dire of circumstances." Outrider studied Ran's face for a moment. "That was not a dire circumstance."

The weavile hung her head. "Did it happen to you?"

"Yes."

Ran felt the load in her stomach lighten. "What happened?"

Outrider turned from her and strode back out of the river. "I'd rather not discuss that."

The load dropped back down into the pit of her stomach. "Maybe, eventually?"

There was a pause. "Finish washing up."

* * *

The clearing was immense – far larger than the structures called for. Buildings made of roughly hewn planks of wood mismatched with whole logs, half logs and bits of dried mud. Roofs of thatched straw, criss-crossing grasses, and some of shaped soil and clay. They bore color, faded in places, vibrant in others. Greens, reds, the rare blue and purple. Sections of wall with splashes of orange, and every doorway rimmed with a brilliant yellow that stood in sharp contrast to the dull wood doors, all of which varied tremendously in build quality.

Ran took note of the rickety tower a few paces away, made of thick sticks and roughly cut logs, atop of which sat a bed of leaves. The mass rustled, and a farfetch'd emerged. Much like Outrider, it bore a cloth of snow and midnight, but it was wrapped around its head, covering one of its eyes.

"You alright there, Sentry?" Outrider came to a stop at the base of the tower and put his hands on his hips, looking skyward up at the duck.

A feminine voice called back, "Just making sure we're not under attack." She yawned and hopped down from the tower, spreading her wings wide to glide gently to the ground. "I was having such a nice dream too."

The mound of leaves atop the tower rustled again and a chespin emerged, rubbing his eyes and calling out, "Did something happen? Is it hero time?"

"No, go back to sleep, little one." called up Sentry. She turned to look at Outrider, but her gaze kept going and snapped to Ran and her expression changed to one of surprise. "And who is this?" She waddled over to the weavile and began to circle around her. Now and again she poked at Ran with her leek, once softly in the stomach, once to raise her chin up and once more in the small of her back. "She's sopping wet. You find her half-drowned?"

"No. She needed a wash," said Outrider. "She assisted me in a fight against a wild scrafty." He turned to look Ran in the eyes. She quailed immediately under his gaze. "She is...effective."

"Hmmm, I don't like the sound of that." Sentry tucked her leek under her wing and tilted her head. "How effective are we talking here?"

"I'm s-sorry," stammered Ran. "Really, I am. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She looked helplessly between the farfetch'd and lucario. "Please, I didn't-"

"That is quite enough." Sentry looked into the settlement and then back at Ran. "I believe you. Judging from your expression, I'd say you know we aren't really the type to spread a wildling across the forest floor in thin sheets of blood and sinew."

"That is a rather apt description of what she did, Sentry," said Outrider, smiling.

The farfetch'd pointed a long feather at her covered eye and laughed. "Well, show her around Nomad. I'm sure the others will be happy to know someone who can take care of themselves has stumbled into our little group." She flew up to her perch and wheeled the curious chespin staring down at Ran around.

"Let's get moving. You need to meet everyone so we can figure out what to do with you," said Outrider.

"Did she say this place is called Nomad?" asked Ran.

"Yes. Before you ask, it has that name because it stuck. We were originally much fewer in number, and intended to stop in this clearing only to rest. That, as you can see, did not happen." The two steadily approached a small structure made of wood and moss-covered stone bearing a straw roof alive with different blooms. On each end of the structure was a wall made of mismatched stone. It came up to just above Ran's head.

"Why not change the name?" Ran shifted her attention from Outrider as she said this to the roof. It was beautiful. "That's so pretty."

"The home of our farmers. Plow and Planter. Call the name 'Nomad' ironic. The death of original intent brought forth the contradictory spirit of our reality."

A sudowoodo stood up from behind the wall abruptly and turned to look at Outrider. "Boy, ain't no one here lookin' to send someone as dead useful as you out to a bigger village to speak pretty, so why do you keep on doin' it?"

"For the same reason no one is sending you, Plow, out to a village to tend plants - unless we're interested in having them accuse us of sabotage," shot back Outrider.

The sudowoodo stared hard back at the lucario for a moment and then burst into laughter. "Good to see it's you that's back and not some 'ark lookin' to raid us." Plow looked down at Ran and smiled. "And who might you be?"

"Ran. I'm...uh, new here." She fidgeted under his gaze.

"Well that much was already mighty obvious. Ain't ever had a weavile round these parts. Clime feelin' alright for ya?"

"Y-yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Yer kind the type to like snow and all that, innit?" Plow looked up to Outrider. "That is what they like, right?"

Outrider shrugged. "The few times I've seen her kind have been in other villages. One mentioned off hand they missed the mountains they used to live in but it wasn't worth it to struggle the way he had to for food and shelter."

"Well don't go meltin' on us, y'hear? Could do with a nice bowl of shaved ice and berry juice some time when the heat kicks up somethin' fierce." Plow gave her a toothy grin and then turned around. "Planter! Planter, come say hello! New friend gonna be stompin' around these parts!"

A lurantis appeared beside the sudowoodo shortly after, and waved to Outrider and then down at Ran. Her delicate speech originated from somewhere deep within her chest, and it hit Ran's ears like singing leaves. "It's wonderful to have you here." She turned to Plow and flicked one of her enormous, mantis-like arms at Plow in mock reprimand. "But you haven't told me this beautiful little weavile's name." Ran looked away in embarrassment as Outrider chuckled.

"Well break my legs and bury me in a river, Planter, you know I'm dimmer than a newborn chinchou."

The lurantis swept one of her arms around the sudowoodo and rubbed her forehead against the side of his head. "Don't go putting yourself down like that."

"My name is Ran."

Planter looked at the weavile and nodded. "Well Ran, I hope you like Nomad. Or are you living up to our namesake and just passing through?"

Ran gave a start and looked up at Outrider. "Everyone's been acting like I'm here to stay. I can't say I'm not grateful, I'm just surprised at how willing you were to take me in. It wasn't even really...discussed."

"Life's hard enough out there for little places like this to be especially picky about who comes rollin' in," offered Plow. "Long as yer not opposed to earnin' yer keep, things run mighty smooth. Of course, if ya feel like the woods and wildlings are more your callin'..."

Ran shook her head hard enough that the plumes on either side of her head ruffled. "No, no. I don't mean that, I'm just- I hardly remember anything about how I got into the forest Outrider found me in."

"Hmmm, keep that in mind when we speak with Oracle." Outrider nodded at the lurantis and sudowoodo in turn. "Planter. Plow. Thank you for receiving Ran so warmly. I've a few more of the villagers to introduce her to. Until later."

Planter waved and called after the two as they set off, "Don't be a stranger around the farm Ran! We could always do with some extra sharp claws!"

As the two set off towards a small home that appeared to be made entirely of stone, Ran noticed it bore two walls that led out away from it to small stone towers. They bore torches and a banner hung from each of the towers. Cut vertically down the center, the left and right side bore the white and midnight of the cloth tied to Outrider, but in the center was an enormous yellow circle, and within it was a shape like the home of Plow and Planter.

Ran pointed to the banners and asked, "What are those?"

"Our colors, if you will. Banners. Identifying marks to allow those that approach to know they have come upon Nomad." Outrider smiled and continued to stride up to the stone home, gesturing for Ran to follow. She did so, walking up to the lucario as he knocked several times on the door.

A curt voice from within called out, "Enter."

The door creaked open, revealing a spartan interior. A member of a Falinks sat on a wooden stool, contemplating the small, partially eaten apple before it. The horn jutting from its helmet looked unusual, as if it was in the process of growing. The remaining members were nowhere to be seen. The lone soldier turns its attention to Outrider and nodded, its entire body committing to the act. "Outrider. You're back. Good, was worried I'd be sending Tower or Trench out to find you." The lone Falinks looked past Outrider at the nervous weavile behind him and added, "And you've brought a new recruit along. She a fighter or a whittler? Claws like those, might come in handy with woodworking."

"Ran's probably more of a fighter than anything." Outrider gave Ran a sideways glance before continuing, "Found her lost in the forest. Took down a wildling alone." He paused. "Shredded the poor soul to pieces."

A dark, stubby limb seized hold of the partially eaten apple, but the Falinks did not eat it, and instead looked directly at Ran. "No fear about the kill then, hm? Good. Much as we avoid it, can't rightly say it doesn't need to sometimes be done."

Ran stared down at her paws. "I didn't want to kill him..."

"I expect you didn't. But you still did, and that takes guts."

Outrider cut in, "Watch, where are Tower and Trench?"

"Tower's polishing the shields. Trench is sleeping," supplied Watch at once.

Ran fell out of the conversation as the two made small talk, discussing Outrider's scouting report and the general quiet the village had been experiencing along its borders. She had become transfixed by the shields and armor that decorated the room. Being nearly bereft of furniture, it made the dulled brass bearing striking reds pop against the cold stone walls. The dim, cold light of the room made the shields that hung on the wall appear almost bronze, and then her eyes settled on the centerpiece of the room: a large helmet upon a wooden stand. It was cracked and chipped, and the large red horn it bore had broken near the tip. She reached out to touch the helmet, when a harsh voice cracked the air.

"Don't you go touchin' Bastion's helmet." Another lone Falinks had stepped into the room from a hallway, bearing several shields, each of them gleaming.

"Take it easy there, Tower. Not like Bastion would be bothered by it," said Watch.

"You're Bastion. And all due respect, you should be," said Tower. He handed Watch the two largest shields and then made off towards the other hallway out of the room. "Gonna wake Trench up to catch some food. Want anything, sir?"

"Got enough with my apple, Tower, thanks."

Ran watched the retreating Falinks, confused, and then said, "He called you Bastion?" She pointed at the helmet. "Is this yours...? You're already wearing-"

"Bastion's dead." Watch's eyes fell to his apple and stared at it for a long while, unblinking. As the silence stretched out, Ran felt increasingly uncomfortable and opened her mouth several times, struggling to think of what to say. "Don't need to say nothin'. You didn't know him, and it was long enough that it only kinda hurts now. That feeling of loss you get during those little moments. The day to day though, that's easy enough.

"Used to be six of us, Bastion at the lead. Biggest and meanest of us. Lost him the same day we lost Flank and Guard." He paused and then set his apple down. "Bastard just wouldn't let those two girls go. Made good on his promise to them."

Ran stared on, at a loss for words.

"So now it's the three of us. Gave me the name Bastion, after I braved going back for his helmet." He gestured with the same stubby little arm.

"Those...come off?" asked Ran.

Watch's eyes narrowed and then fell to the floor. "No, kid. No, they don't." He continued to stare, as if searching for something, then turned to look at the two. "Gonna grab some food with those two idiots, I think. If you don't mind showing yourselves out?"

Outrider nodded and turned about. "Let's go, Ran." He brought a paw to her back and swept her from the room.

As the lucario carried her gently, but insistently out, Ran twisted about and called back to Watch, "I'm- I'm sorry!" She caught sight of Watch turn to look at her, his eyes full of mourning, and then Outrider closed the door in her face.

Ran looked at the lucario, her face full of incomprehension and pity. "I- I didn't know, I didn't mean to-"

Outrider put a single digit to her lips and shushed her. "You did not offend Watch. You merely, in your innocence, reminded him." He gestured to the remaining two buildings they had yet to visit. One was another stone structure that appeared to have only a partially completed roof. Black smoke billowed out from it and as they approached, alongside a persistent clanging sound, and the odd hiss of steam.

"Our smithy. Home of Forge, Stone and Hammer." He smiled at Ran. "You'll know who is who very quickly." He threw the door open without knocking and called out, "I'm back! I hope my request is ready!" Ran followed after him, and found the reason for the partially completed roof.

One corner of the smithy bore piles of hay with indentations in them, cups and plates scattered on the floor nearby with bits of food. The rest of the interior was filled with tables bearing tools of different sizes and in different stages of wear, buckets short and tall filled with water. Dominating the corner opposite the beds, and spilling out along the walls on either side was an enormous stone forge. Ran's eyes found the conkeldurr first, the source of the persistent clanging. In one hand he bore a hammer, the other a set of crude tongs, and he brought the hammer down rhythmically onto a red hot piece of metal. Sweat dripped down his forehead, pooling in the bandana tied around his forehead, the white stained yellow and the midnight faded.

"Outrider! You already know that it'll be done when-" began the smith.

"When it is done, I know. I'm just giving you a hard time," said Outrider, smiling.

The conkeldurr smirked and then continued to hammer away at the metal. "Who's the weavile?"

"Ran." She stepped forward to look more closely at the metal he was hammering. "I'm Ran. And you must be Hammer?"

"What gave it away?" he asked, a feigned look of surprise on his face. He threw his head back and laughed and then moved the metal back into the forge. As he did he said to the floor, "Kick it up, Forge!"

A quilava stuck partially out from a small cutout in the stone, the rest of its body resting where the flames that fed the forge danced about. She sighed and stood, saying all the while in a scratchy voice, "Can we take a break to eat soon?"

"Yeah, yeah. You whine too much, Forge. I'm the one pounding metal all day."

"Just because you make a big show of making a racket all day and way too long into the night doesn't mean that my job is any easier. How'd you like to feed this thing for hours on end?" she replied, scowling. She glanced back into the chamber she sat partially in and added, "Speaking of, we're going to need more wood. Wake up Stone. And before I forget my manners, it's nice to meet you, Ran."

Ran nodded, her eyes still fixed on the flames that danced around the quilava. She laid there with an almost casual air, even as the fires on her back soared. "Nice to meet you too." She tore her eyes away to watch Outrider walk over to the piles of hay and noticed there were only two. Made sense, she reasoned, Forge would likely burn them. The lucario kicked a figure obscured by the hay awake, and a lycanroc sat up, stifling a yawn behind its enormous paw, and covered in bits of hay.

A feminine voice met Ran's ears as the lycanroc grumbled, "What'd you go wakin' me up for..." Her eyes drooped and she yawned again. "I was having such a nice dream." She stood and rubbed her eyes then looked at Outrider for a moment. She smirked and threw an arm around him. "Or maybe I'm still dreaming. How's it going, handsome?"

Outrider rolled his eyes. "Forge needs more wood."

The lycanroc scowled. "Figures. Wake me up and send me off to do shit half-groggy, huh?" She tugged on one of Outrider's ears playfully and giggled. "Wanna come along?"

The lucario shook his head. "I have to finish introducing Ran to everyone. Speaking of, this is Ran." He gestured to the weavile.

The lycanroc's smirk widened to an outright grin. She let go of Outrider and walked over to Ran, then picked her up and pulled her into a hug. "They are cool! Oh this is wonderful. Next time it's hot out, I'm tracking you down for some cuddles," cooed Stone.

Outrider laughed at the display "Careful there, Stone, she may be small but she's a ferocious fighter."

Ran squirmed in her arms, thoroughly uncomfortable and slightly embarrassed. "Uh, could- could you put me down, please?"

Stone snickered and set her down. "Oh yeah, real big fighter, this one. Alright, alright, but only because you're such a cutie." She tapped Ran's nose for added effect and then swept herself out of the house. "I'll be back with your stupid wood in a bit."

Ran watched her go, and was surprised to see Outrider following shortly after. The lucario turned to wave at Hammer and Forget and then gestured for Ran to follow after him once more. She did so, and the two gave Stone a wave of farewell before Outrider pointed to the final home for them to visit. A wooden structure with a straw roof, it bore several more windows than the rest.

"Oracle's house. As well as Sentry's, the little one's, and my own." He gave the structure a soft smile and then looked at Ran. "We should be able to make some room for you as well, unless you'd rather sleep elsewhere."

Ran shuffled her feet awkwardly. "You don't have to do that..." she mumbled to the ground.

"Well, if you'd rather sleep outside-"

"N-no, I just don't want to impose."

"Well you've already imposed whether you like it or not." At the look on her face, he chuckled and added, "Don't look so guilty. I was more than happy to help, and you'll find the rest of the village is just as helpful. If not more so. I daresay there are some incredibly generous souls among us. We're fortunate to have them. But we'll worry about sleeping arrangements later, for now, let us see what Oracle is up to." He opened the door to his home and peered inside. "Oracle?" A pause. "Oracle?"

He closed the door again and pointed somewhere past Ran. "Not home, I suppose. Follow me, I'm fairly certain I know where she's gone off to." He set off towards a large stone wall that spanned the length of the natural clearing in the forest beyond it. Ran followed him, and hopped down on the other side in time to see Outrider heading towards the forest. When she caught up, she noticed they were following a trail of crushed underbrush through the trees.

"Is it dangerous to be out here?" asked Ran.

Outrider shook his head. "Not particularly. There's the off-chance that a wildling wandered into this part of the woods but they tend to avoid settlements. No real organization among the lonely sorts and the organized sort have their own little enclaves in places where they have no need to ever get close to a village. This trail is usually nothing more than a pleasant stroll to Sight's Falls."

"A waterfall?"

"Mm. You hear it, yes?" asked Outrider.

Ran did indeed hear the faint roar, growing steadily louder as they pushed further along the trail. When they broke free of the woods they found themselves standing before a large lake that fed into a river that wound its way westward. To the north were the falls themselves, crashing down into white foam and sending ripples across the otherwise glassy surface of the lake. "This is definitely worth the walk."

Outrider laughed. "It is, isn't it? And there's Oracle!" He pointed to a xatu standing at the end of a small peninsula that stuck into the lake. She was atop a rocky pillar of stone that jutted out of a larger, flat chunk of rock.

As the two approached, Ran felt a sense of unease settle in her stomach. She watched Oracle warily as the xatu wheeled around raised a wing in greeting. She did not bear the usual red eyes upon her chest like other xatu – instead, hers were green. "Outrider! Great to see you again! How did everything go? Anything unusual?"

Outrider shook his head. "Nothing strange other than finding her." He gestured to the weavile beside him. "This is Ran. I found her, alone and decidedly confused in the middle of the forest. She's had trouble remembering much of anything about where she came from or how she wound up in that forest. But, as I've said to everyone else in the village now, she can hold her own in a fight. Perhaps too well."

Ran dropped her gaze again for what felt like the fifteenth time in the last few hours.

Oracle swept her wings out and bent forward in a bow. "Ran, my dear, it is wonderful to meet you. As you may have heard, I am Oracle, and tasked with living up to my namesake in our little village of Nomad."

Ran awkwardly bowed back to Oracle, unsure if that was the correct response and asked, straightening back up, "So what does that mean?" Ran's eyes settled on green eyes on Oracle's chest and said after a moment, noticeably uncomfortable, "And why are they green?"

Oracle spread her wings wide and intoned, "Ah! The questions of the hour. You see, little lost kitten, I have been blessed with the clarity of the Pure Sight! Those beyond our understanding who gaze deep into the very essence of the what-will are said to have eyes that flash a sacred green when they happen upon genuine insights that shape our very essences. Through decades of perseverance and uncommon talent, my Sight has come to reflect that purity of vision. And now, into emerald pools do those that wish to know what may yet come to them gaze, longingly and searchingly, for insight."

Ran looked at Oracle with genuine astonishment. "Oooh, so could-"

Oracle cut Ran off with a laugh. "Ran, please, don't look at me like that, I feel guilty. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I was born with them."

The weavile's face fell into a pout. "That wasn't a very good joke."

"Maybe for you, I thought it was hilarious."

She continued to frown and asked, "So what do you do then?"

"Mostly, I just predict the weather." Oracle puffed her chest feathers out as she said this and bent her wings to her hips for added effect. "With an impressive degree of accuracy, I might add!"

"But not perfectly?" asked Ran.

"Sometimes the others think I give them false readings on purpose for my own mischievous little games," admitted Oracle. She began to laugh, a high throbbing laugh like birdsong that echoed all around Ran. "But you must understand, no one can see what will come to us perfectly." At this, her laughs quelled and she waddled over to Ran. Her eyes became tender as she raised her wings up to touch either side of Ran's face.

Ran could feel her gaze boring straight past her eyes, deep into her head, probably even into her very soul. It unnerved her on a profound level, and though her body screamed for her to pull away from the xatu, to scream in protest, she could not. She stared back, lost in the deep black of Oracle's pupils. She could feel a strange throbbing and rushing sensation in her chest, and out of the corners of her eyes she could see the world falling away, piece by piece.

There was the infinite black that spanned out all around her. And then there were the tears that fell from her eyes in fat gobs. They burned but still she did not blink, even as her face broke and she began to sob uncontrollably. Her body was giving out beneath her, but she didn't fall.

Her chest felt like it was going to cave in when she finally wriggled free from the xatu's grasp. She registered only vaguely that Oracle had not even truly held her face, only brought two long feathers to either side of hers. She slumped forward and clutched the xatu, sobbing harder, howling up to the sky as her lungs expelled lamentations she couldn't explain. She tried to speak, to say something, but nothing would form on her tongue but mush. Sounds playing at words.

When finally the boundless despair that threatened to crush her had abated somewhat, Ran pulled away from Oracle and said in a constricted voice, "I'm... s-sorry f-for th-that." She turned about and began to walk as fast as she could back towards Nomad. Or perhaps back into the forest to find a spot to lay down and die, she thought. She had no idea where the pain came from, but it was sickening and overwhelming.

She thought she heard someone shout after her, but when she finally turned to look over her shoulder to see who it was, there was nothing but the trees. She focused on the trail beneath her paws once again and eventually found the wall. As Ran stared it down, she realized she did not have the drive to climb it, and instead simply sat up against it to wait for Oracle and Outrider to return.

* * *

Outrider watched the entire ordeal with noticeable confusion that turned to shock when Ran broke down into hysterics. He frowned, his brow furrowed, at the weavile's retreating back as she disappeared into the wood, and then turned to Oracle. "What was that?"

Oracle took her time responding, opting first to turn about and resume her perch atop the stone pillar that watched Sight's Falls. "A touch of prying," she said at last.

"You should have told her. Asked her." Outrider crossed his arms. "You did the same to me once, and you know how much that offended me."

"And still you live in Nomad, and still you give an old crone the time of day." Oracle turned long enough to give him a single cheeky glance before turning to the waterfall again. "Nevertheless, she is a truly strange soul."

"What happened to her?" asked Outrider.

"I don't know." She raised her wings in an approximation of a shrug. "Whatever it was, I can assure you, it was horrible. So much so, she cannot remember it. Or perhaps she was made not to. I cannot say. But it was awful. I can assure you of that."

"You must have gotten someth-"

"There were screams. Groans. Howls. There was red. But all of it was so hazy, so insubstantial..." She raised her head up to the sky and continued, "Flashes. Lots of different lights. Smells. An awful spectrum of smells."

"Blood?" asked Outrider.

"Blood and-"

"Heat."

Oracle turned about and nodded. "Yes."

"When she killed that wildling nearby where I found her, that's where I first..." He trailed off. "Nevertheless, she is troubled."

"She is. Troubled, lost, and desperate for guidance. See to it that she gets the right kind, will you?" said Oracle. Outrider nodded and set off after Ran. The xatu let out a short string of musical, throbbing notes. "And Outrider?" she called out to him.

Outrider turned his head. "Yes?"

"Be patient with that little kitten. You, more than anyone, know what that echo of a demon can do." At this, Oracle turned about and resumed her contemplation of the falls.

With a frown, Outrider nodded and set off back into the woods. "An echo..." he murmured.


	2. Chapter 2

Ran pulled herself up onto the thatched straw roof and slumped back, staring up at the sky. Countless blinking stars hung above her and with a deep sigh of relief, she closed her eyes. The interior of Oracle's house seemed too small for her to sleep comfortably, its clean walls slinking ever closer to her every time she opened her eyes to scan the room in a paranoid frenzy. She remembered Outrider's shadowed figure laying a few paces away from her, snoring softly. She remembered the dramatic silhouette that Oracle cut in the dark of the room as the moonlight caught on the edges of her body, etching the imposing and proud form of a xatu sharp against the starry sky visible through the window behind her.

She remembered the quiet chespin, sleeping happily beneath Sentry's wing, his stubby arms hugging the fafetch'd's wing. Her memory snagged on Sentry. The farfetch'd slept the lightest of them all, and her sharp eye, shining in the moonlight that filtered through the windows, stared hard at Ran. The farfetch'd had watched her go silently, but Ran swore she saw Sentry's eyes close in a way that told her she was still listening. Even here on the roof, it made her feel uneasy. More than earned her name, I guess, thought Ran.

The squeak of the hinges on Oracle's door sent a shock through Ran's system and she sat bolt upright. Wood groaning and creaking met her ears and then a shadowed figure popped up in her vision as it pulled itself up onto the roof. The soft rustling of straw sounded much louder in the still night air, and when the figure spoke, she relaxed somewhat.

"I find it rather strange you chose here of all places to try and get some rest. Were you too warm in the house?" asked Outrider as he approached, his features becoming steadily more visible all the while.

Ran shook her head. "No, it's not that, I just-" She stopped and fidgeted under Outrider's gaze. "Sit down, you're making me nervous." she whispered. The lucario frowned and cocked his head, but complied nevertheless. "I wasn't feeling up to sleeping in a room with a bunch of strangers..."

"But you were fine with following one through a forest you didn't recognize? You were fine with being introduced to an entire village of strangers? You were fine with accepting an indefinite stay in this village of strangers? But you were not fine with sleeping in the same room as them."

Ran's ears drooped and she looked away, embarrassed. "Sorry."

"What for?" asked Outrider. He leaned back and stared up at the sky. "Or is that a sort of generalized apology?"

"I'm sorry for lying." Ran turned towards Outrider and continued, "Sleeping in there with everyone made me feel a little claustrophobic. A little... worried. The walls felt like they were closing in, so I ducked out to get some air and some space." She glanced around the roof and added with a sheepish grin, "The roof really isn't a bad place."

Outrider's mouth drew into a thin line as he hummed, low and pensive. "Threatened by the presence of so many unknowns?"

The weavile grimaced. "I can't be that easy to read, can I?"

"It is only logical. Nothing about your demeanor while we visited the others showed even the barest hint of discomfort with your surroundings, only with being in their general presence – though you did warm up to them after a time. Except perhaps for Watch, but that meeting was cut short." Ran bowed her head in shame at this. Outrider frowned and clicked his tongue."Raise your head." He reached out and lifted Ran's head to bring her gaze up to meet his own. "As I said, it was not your fault. Nevertheless, your propensity for lying is , I will admit, you have lied only to spare those around you their feelings."

Ran pulled away from Outrider's light grasp of her chin and looked down at the straw around her as she picked at it in a morose sort of way. "I'm new here. I don't want to say anything that gets me thrown out. Or worse."

"No one here is interested in stooping to savagery over something as trivial as a verbal slight, accidental or otherwise."

"I- I guess so."

"You don't believe me."

"I believe you about that. But I want to believe what's beyond that."

"What? That the company you've volunteered to keep is good at heart?"

Ran stared back at Outrider for a long while before nodding, a thoroughly miserable look on her face.

"Something keeps you from doing so."

"I don't know what it is. Something weird in my gut. It feels like a tightly knit bundle of brambles. I see the others, cheerful and helpful – mostly, anyway – and I just..." Ran shook her head. "And I feel on edge. Like something horrible is about to happen."

"Well..." began Outrider. He paused and closed his mouth, rubbing his chin and thinking. "If you're worried that some sort of ill of our own design is about to befall you, I can assure you, that is anything but the case."

"I really want to believe that."

"Well, perhaps you'll come to see the truth in my words once ill does fall upon our heads."

Ran's eyes widened. "What do you mean?" She scanned about, nervous and twitchy. "What's going on?"

"We used to believe it was misfortune, some suggested it was divine anger, and others called it the callous indifference of chance." Outrider smiled and chuckled, an act that left Ran both confused and petrified. "But in time we've come to know it simply as our lot." The lucario stood and stretched. "Inevitably, some wretched wildling or twisted creature finds its way to Nomad. Inevitably, some tired wanderer collapses on our border and speaks to us a tale we've heard countless times before – some evil pit that cuts down into the soil from which spew senseless violence, a maw that cannot be shut. And so, once again, into the waiting claws of the unknown do we venture, and find our collective resolve tested."

Ran stared up at Outrider and felt a peculiar sensation rush up down her spine. "To live?" she breathed.

The lucario regarded her with a grin. "Indeed. That is the wish of everyone here in Nomad: to live. That and one other thing."

"What?"

"To see to it that the others do as well." He offered her his paw. "Those are the duties expected of us, above all else, here. And so are they expected of you. What do you say?"

Ran reached out and gently took Outrider's paw in her own and let the lucario help bring her up to her feet. She stared back at the lucario's face and took a deep breath. "I'm still scared. I won't lie to you again and say that I believe you completely."

With a chuckle, Outrider said, "But you believe me on some level."

The weavile took several deep breaths and nodded. "Yes." She swallowed. "And I say... I want to live."

* * *

Ran could feel the warmth of the sun beating down on her eyelids and piercing them, and with a grunt of displeasure she rolled over in her pile of hay, away from the offending light. It was probably late in the day, her half-conscious mind reasoned, but she'd been up late on the roof with Outrider.

That was a mistake.

A loud and shrill musical note from somewhere in the village had her sitting bolt upright and then scrambling up to the window to see what was happening. A sableye was limping into the village, clutching a wrapped bundle of cloth in its arms as Sentry and her chespin directed it towards Plow and Planter's home. All the while, Sentry blew through the leek she bore, producing a piercing note that made Ran's head ache.

Outrider burst from the home of the falinks, followed closely by Watch, Trench and Tower and rushed over to their fellow villagers and the new stranger. Ran stifled a yawn and half-considered going back to sleep. The pile of straw behind her stared back at her invitingly, but then she felt the piercing gaze of Sentry bore a hole into the side of her head. Outrider's words echoed fresh in her ears, and with a sigh, she cursed herself for spending so much time on the roof talking to Outrider. She jumped out of the window and rushed over to the group of pokemon. "Haven't even had breakfast..." she muttered to herself.

As she approached the home of the village's farmers, she saw Planter burst out from her door, clutching an armful of berries and looking distraught. With the closer view she got of the sableye as she fell in beside Outrider, who offered her a sleepy-eyed nod, she noticed the red, gem-like right eye of the sableye was cracked. A shiver ran down her spine.

"Goodness, just look at you, you poor thing, what happened?" cried Planter. She offered the sableye several oran berries, but the pokemon shook its head.

"Please, it's alright, there's-" The sableye stopped and brought a finger up to his cracked eye with a sad smile. "There's not much you can do about this..." He unwrapped the bundle in his arms, revealing a frightened looking wynaut.

Upon seeing the sableye's face, the wynaut cried, "D-Dad? Your- your eye! What happened to your eye?"

The sableye shushed the wynaut. "Don't worry, Topaz, don't worry." The pokemon pulled his son into a tender embrace. "I'm going to be fine, all that matters is you're safe."

Plow's head peeked in from behind Planter and found the sableye. With a low whistle, he said, "Don't rightly think we grow anythin' that could put an injury like that right again, Planter. Leave the poor feller and his son be." A stone arm tipped with green bunches of false leaves pulled the lurantis into the home and shut the door as Plow added all the while, "This looks like business for our soldiers to deal with."

"Thanks for trying to help, Planter," called Sentry to the window beside the door.

"Haven't heard of anything that'll mend a crack like that," said Watch. Behind him, Tower and Trench agreed in unison. "But I've seen plenty that'll cause one. What'd you run into?"

"A mamoswine," said the sableye. "It was furious. And terrifying. I haven't seen a pokemon so violent in all my travels."

"Did it give chase?" asked Outrider.

"For a time. I lost it near a tree with strange markings on it." The sableye leaned to look past Outrider and pointed at the falinks' home. "Looked a bit like what's on those banners."

"Aren't those trees usually close by?" asked the chespin beneath Sentry's wing.

"Some are, yes, little one," replied the farfetch'd.

"Where did you come in from?" asked Outrider immediately to the sableye.

The sableye pointed towards the southeast. "From around there, I think." Outrider looked to Sentry, who nodded.

"Then it wasn't that close by," said Outrider.

"Was it hurt?" asked Ran. Everyone turned to look at her and she quailed immediately under the attention. "S-sorry."

"For what?" asked Outrider. Ran simply shook her head.

"Not very," replied the sableye. He hung his head. "I'm not a fighter. I'm a merchant. I was on my way to Treasure Town."

Watch chuckled. "Long and lonely road."

"And a bitter one too. I dropped the bag with all the stones I was going to trade in Treasure Town. Probably scattered around the location where that crazed beast ruined my namesake." At the looks of confusion on everyone's faces, the sableye added, "Jasper. Still my favorite snack to this day." He touched his cracked eye and added bitterly, "Cracked Jasper doesn't have a very good ring to it."

"Everyone is being really casual about an angry mamoswine being nearby," observed Ran, visibly on edge.

"What do you want us to do? Panic?" asked Watch. "Sentry hasn't heard it or seen it, Outrider hasn't sensed it, and there's no heavy thumping from its footfalls or falling trees crashing down in the forest."

"It just sounds like a serious threat..." mumbled Ran.

"It is. But that calls for a plan, not panic."

The weavile frowned. "So what do we do?"

"Trench?" asked Watch.

"Propose a standard hunt, Bastion."

Watch let out a low hum. "Tower. Alternative?"

"No bait for traps, no understanding of objective, and no knowledge of current location. I second Trench's plan, Bastion."

At this, Watch looked between Ran and Outrider. "A hunt then. All in favor?" Outrider nodded, and Ran did so a moment later. "Hunt it is."

"You're going to hunt it down?" asked Jasper, looking alarmed. Beside him, Sentry took off soundlessly, leaving the chespin looking confused as she soared towards Oracle's home.

Watch nodded as he clanged his shields together. "Can't have it rampaging about so close to the village. Fall in."

"We'll try to get you your stones back as well," added Outrider tugging at the cloth tied around his arm.

"I don't have anything I could pay you with for something like this..." mumbled Jasper, casting his gaze down and shrinking back.

Outrider chuckled. "Be glad you didn't hire us for this then. We'll return soon." At this, Sentry landed once more and tossed Outrider a leather bandolier bearing several small pockets and one very large one. He pulled another striped strip of cloth from the largest pouch and then pulled the bandolier across his body. "Ran, put this on."

The weavile took the cloth from him and stared down at it silently. Something like a tiny little trickles of electricity ran from the top of her head down to her toes. Ran scratched at her neck without realizing before tying the cloth around it and fiddling about with her new, improvised scarf. She was silent for a moment longer before she said in a quiet voice, "Thank you." She paused and then added, "What are these for anyway? Just identification?"

Outrider nodded. "Makes it easy to identify you in a crowd."

"I wasn't under the impression crowds were a huge problem out here in the middle of basically nowhere..." replied Ran.

"Makes it easy to identify a corpse." Watch looked over one of his shields before marching towards the southeast. "Fall in, you two." He looked at Ran and then Outrider.

Outrider lined up behind Trench and gestured for Ran to join him. As she approached she said in an undertone, "That was grim."

"The truth often is."

* * *

Ran rolled sideways to avoid the tree the mamoswine knocked down in the midst of its rampage. It hit the forest floor with a heavy thud, partially crushing a second tree in the process. She scrambled up another, shorter tree nearby and crouched atop a thick bough. "Outrider! What are we even doing?" The entire "fight" against the mamoswine had been largely evasive, with Watch, Trench and Tower rushing from the brush now and again to fling themselves directly at the mamoswine's sides before dashing off again.

Below her, crouched low to the ground, Outrider looked on as the rampaging mammoth continued to crash through the vegetation of the forest, searching for the scattered falinks. Panting, he replied, "We're trying to tire... tire it out. But I get the feeling that's not working." He stood up and balled his paws up into fists, wreathing them into a gentle aqua glow all the while. "Might need to be a bit more direct." His gaze flicked to Ran. "Up for helping?"

The weavile grimaced and looked away. "I don't know if I should..."

Next to Outrider, the three falinks that accompanied them emerged from a large bush, all of them breathing heavily. "Having a good time, you two? Not like there's a war on or anything," grumbled Watch.

"We were just about to shift to more active measures of bringing that beast down," explained Outrider. He continued to stare up at Ran before adding, "If you fear you'll disembowel it then at least keep it distracted for me. I'm going to strike from above. In the meantime, you three stay here and catch your breath." At this, the lucario took off towards the rampaging mamoswine.

Ran shivered and steeled herself, muttering, "Distraction, distraction, distraction..." She jumped down from her bough and tore off after Outrider, before passing him up and dashing down the line of devastation their quarry had cut through the forest. The path the pokemon took veered right, and as she turned to keep on its trail, she found herself staring down the mamoswine. Perhaps thirty paces away, it let out a huge scream that shook the trees around them. Ran took off at a full sprint towards the mamoswine as it reared back, screeching and then charged forward as well.

They were no more than ten paces apart when she sprung up and exhaled a blast of freezing air beneath her, forming a large ice platform for her to stand on. She grabbed hold of the sides as the chunk of ice fell sharply towards the mamoswine, crashing into the crown of its head and shattering apart. She tumbled forward and grasped for the fur on the mamoswine to keep herself from flying entirely off of the thrashing beast. She hoisted her head up high enough to see Outrider running at the pokemon and launching several spheres of cyan at the mamoswine.

As the spheres struck the mammoth, it began to thrash with such force that Ran's grip slipped completely from the small clump of fur she had seized awkwardly with her clawed paws. She felt herself begin to fall away from the mamoswine and screamed, grasping feverishly at fur, desperate to avoid falling beneath the rampaging pokemon. Instinctively, she thrust her claws into the mamoswine to stop her fall.

This earned her an earsplitting bellow and even more violent thrashing as the mamoswine tore off into the forest, deliberately slamming its side against trees in a desperate bid to rid itself of Ran. She could barely hear Outrider's unintelligible yells as the mammoth ran deeper into the forest, and turned her focus completely to trying to scale the beast's side. _I can't get a good hold of its fur... Stupid claws._ She looked at the blood pooling around them and shuddered. Her vision went black for half a second before she was nearly thrown off of the mamoswine again and was brought her crashing back to reality. She was holding on with only one paw, her other was reared back and ready to strike again.

She grit her teeth and shouted to herself, "Stop!"

Something slammed into Ran and sent her sailing off the mamoswine. Her right arm was on fire. Something in her side throbbed. Then it occurred to her she was staring at the sky, obscured now and again by the canopy. The wind rushing around her. An azure sky marked with fluffy white clouds. The edges of her vision were bright and clear again. The world went black.

* * *

Somehow, Ran was floating. It was divine, but the flashes of light that hit her eyes bothered her. It was a light beyond her eyelids. Her eyes were closed. She tore them open and nearly fell out of Outrider's arms.

"What- what happened? Outrider?" she asked, confused. The crown of her head began to throb, and she became acutely aware of the pain along the right side of her body. She grimaced and added, "I feel awful. What happened?"

"Cracked your head on a tree, looks of it," replied Watch. Ran turned in Outrider's arms and saw the falinks leading the way ahead, his two comrades following closely behind him. A bag hung from his horn and draped across his back.

Ran frowned. "I- I remember clinging onto the mamoswine." She grimaced and sucked in a sharp breath of air as her arm twinged again. "And then just...black."

"Probably got knocked into a tree," reasoned Trench, "Forest is full of them, after all. Lucky you didn't split your head open."

"Lucky that mamoswine don't run too terribly fast, more like," said Tower.

"She's alive and well is what matters, you three," said Outrider. "Whether fortunate or not doesn't matter now."

"Hn. Point but either way, wasn't the brightest of ideas what she did," noted Watch.

"All I did was try to distract the mamoswine," said Ran.

"By getting' on top of it?"

"Well, I figured it'd try to throw me off once I was hanging onto it."

"And it did just that, it seems."

"Well you got the stones back and my guess is you all managed to deal with the mamoswine given how casually we're walking back to Nomad..." Ran crossed her arms and pouted. She felt tremendously stupid. "It wasn't a bad idea..."

Outrider chuckled and whispered to her, "It wasn't, but it was also not what you'd call a fully realized plan. I am able to improvise rather well, but believe me, having to follow up that stunt you pulled with that icicle was rather difficult given how far away I was when I saw you do it. Especially since I said I would be the one to strike from above."

Ran looked away and mumbled, "I was just trying to help..."

"And so you did. At a cost to no one but yourself, even. Rather remarkable. Usually when plans hit snags they tend to be rather indiscriminate with who they inconvenience."

"That was just luck."

"And we'll take luck when it comes. After all, I'm sure you've learned from this ordeal," said Outrider gently.

Ran looked up at the lucario and frowned. "I blacked out."

"Well yes, you hit-"

"No, I mean... When I was clinging to it. I had to stab into it to keep a good hold and not get tossed off. Then when I saw what I had done something clicked and my vision went black for a moment." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "But then I almost fell off and suddenly I was awake again, arm reared back, ready to just-" She paused and jabbed her left arm into the air. "And then I got run into a tree." She smiled in spite of herself. "Good thing too, I guess."

"You showed restraint."

"How? I stabbed into it. I was going to really start stabbing into it too, I just know it. It was just like with that scrafty." Her stomach turned at the thought.

"You chose to stab into it to keep hold of it." He shifted Ran around in his arms so she was being supported by just one arm and used his now free one to hold up one of her paws. "Look at these things. They're all cruel razors hiding a tiny patch of soft padding somewhere far away. In your position I would have done the same thing." He went back to supporting her with both arms and continued, "Besides, you were interested in simply keeping your grip on the mamoswine, and if that meant you had to give it a few new holes, then so be it."

Ran sighed. "I guess so." She frowned and looked up at Outrider, inquisitive. "What did happen to the mamoswine?"

"Out cold. Should stay that way for some time too, given the beating Tower and Trench gave it," replied Watch.

"But it's going to wake up again, isn't it?" asked Ran.

"Of course it is, but we'll be back by then and ready to punt it somewhere else," said Tower.

Trench began to laugh. "Sentry's gonna be real pleased to know we're going to need her feathers again."

"The kid's gotten good at plucking them out, she won't be too bothered by it," said Watch.

"What are you talking about?" asked Ran.

"You'll see soon enough. Won't spoil the surprise for you."

* * *

Ran sat against the wall of Plow and Planter's home, watching the exchange before her with great interest while Planter cooed by her, wrapping her arm and midsection in soft cloth and rubbing her cheek.

"Just look at what that little excursion did to you," she whined. "You're a mess."

The weavile took another bite out of one of the three oran berries the lurantis had forced on her and said thickly, "You're worrying too mush." She swallowed and continued, "A little rest and I'll be good to go."

"Well you certainly aren't going with them today. They can use their little wand without you just fine."

Ran nodded, deciding against arguing with a very worried but firm-sounding Planter, and turned her attention back to the scene before her.

Sentry looked displeased. "You'll get your feathers, I'm just wondering why it's always me that gets plucked." She flapped her wings once for effect.

"Who else would we use?" asked Watch.

"Oracle? She's got plenty of feathers too, you know," replied Sentry, exasperated. "The wand needs feathers, why does it matter that they're mine?"

"Oracle's feathers don't produce the desired effects when attuned with wandwood. We've explained that before," said Outrider.

"I just keep hoping Oracle or Planter will have some kind of breakthrough," grumbled Sentry. She shook her head and then turned her attention to the chespin beside her. "Looks like you're plucking some feathers, little one."

The chespin nodded and asked, "How many?"

"Hopefully not many."

Watch let out a short, sharp laugh. "I wish it wasn't very many Sentry, I really do, but it's a mamoswine. Maybe if we were trying to blow the kid away we could use a little feather from the top of your head, but we're going to need a good bit of them from your wings for something that big."

Sentry slouched and groaned. "Several?"

"Easily half a dozen."

The farfetch'd shuddered and held a wing out. "Well, get started little one." She swallowed hard. "Six feathers. Be swift."

As the chespin began combing through Sentry's wing looking for suitable feathers, Tower and Trench returned to the group. "Stones delivered, Bastion," said Trench.

"Sounds like Jasper and his son are ready to be on their way," added Trench. "Should be leaving shortly."

"They need food!" said Planter, leaping to her feet. "Ran, I'll be gone for only a few minutes, so eat those berries in the meantime, alright?"

Ran took another bite from her second oran berry and nodded. Something told her Planter's caring disposition made ignoring her recommendations less than ideal. She watched as the chespin plucked feathers from Sentry, each pull filling the air with a loud squawk of pain.

With some difficulty, she suppressed her chuckles and turned her attention to the small Jasper as he approached, waving off the bag of berries Planter offered him before eventually relenting and taking it as the lurantis grew progressively more insistent. Topaz hopped alongside his father happily all the while, coming to a stop just behind him as the sableye addressed the group.

"Thank you all very much for what you've done for my son and I," said Jasper, clasping his hands together. "You've saved... a great deal. Lives, livelihoods and innocence, to name a few." He dug into the sack of stones he held and pulled several out to hand to Outrider. "Take these, and no, I will not take no for an answer. You've more than earned them, you deserve them." He bowed his head. "Thank you again."

"Yeah, thanks for helping Dad out!" added Topaz, bouncing up and down.

Outrider tucked the stones into a pouch at his side and nodded at Jasper. "We are all very glad we could help. Take care on the road."

"We're in your debt," said Jasper. He smiled at the group before scooping his son up and heading out of Nomad.

As the group waved them off, Ran caught sight of Oracle approaching. "Is he off? I insisted he stay for a spot of dinner. Oh well. Sentry, how are you feeling? Did the little one pluck off too many feathers?" asked the xatu.

The farfetch'd rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, I'm sure you're very happy you don't have to deal with this," she grumbled. "But we've got the feathers you need."

Oracle chuckled and pulled the feathers telekinetically from the chespin when he held them up to offer them to her. "Excellent. Then Planter, if you will, we've a wand to make."

"Alright, but I was tending to Ran, could I take care of that first?" asked the lurantis, shuffling her gaze between the xatu and Ran.

"I'm fine, Planter, really," said the weavile, taking another bite of her third oran berry for added effect. "Jush go without me."

"Just bring her along Planter, I'm sure she'll be delighted to watch you work, and we'll all be spared your worries," reasoned Oracle. Her twinkling eyes met Ran's gaze and she tossed a wing dramatically out towards her home. "Come along."

Planter nodded and rushed over to help Ran stand, but the weavile was already on her feet and moving after the xatu's retreating back.

"You shouldn't stand up so fast!" squeaked Planter.

Ran smiled. "Does Plow tell you that you worry too much?"

The lurantis' shoulders drooped. "All the time. He swears it'll be the death of me, but someone has to watch out for the pokemon of the village!"

Ran cast her gaze downward. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it! The village owes its safety to the things you and the others do for it," she replied. "Not everyone is cut out for combat, you know."

"Really?" asked Ran. "I would have thought Hammer would be good for it..."

"Hammer, Forge and Stone are all..." The lurantis trailed off and awkwardly rubbed her shoulder. "The second line of defense, as it were." She looked Ran in the eyes. "Sentry would be the first."

"I thought that's what Outrider and Watch's comrades were."

"They're a proactive force. Yes, technically, they are also first, but the work they do – and the work you do, now – is what keeps us from ever having to rely on Sentry for anything but lookout duty."

"Why does she have her eye covered, anyway?" asked Ran.

"Hmmm... You should ask her yourself some time," said Planter. "I wouldn't say that's my story to tell."

* * *

A purple glow surrounded the stick that lay upon the polished stone block between Oracle and Planter. It lifted up and hovered a few inches above the shining black rock. Ran noticed several strange symbols were carved into the stone and every so often a few of them would glow a soft cyan.

They were in a small clearing just behind Oracle's home, but Ran noticed that the grass here around the stone was tinted an array of faint purples, blues and reds. She leaned against a tree and was surprised to find it enormously cold against her back. She turned and ran a paw along the trunk and found the tree felt more like stone than wood.

"What's happening here?" she called out to the xatu and lurantis.

Oracle tilted her head and the shaft before her began to spin slowly. "Wand-making. The stone between us is a rune-anchor. Took Stone ages to find and even longer to bring back, but it was well worth it." Her gaze shifted up to Planter. "Planter has a gift for filling wood with words to shout to the world around it."

"Don't flatter me," said Planter, inclining her head. "Call it a gift, yes, but I hardly find my ability remarkable." She raised a delicate claw and then took a long, deep breath. The wood shaft stopped spinning and the thickest portion now pointed towards Planter. In one fluid set of motions, she carved a sequence of symbols into the shaft of wood above the rune-anchor. Wood shavings filled the air and rained down on the black stone, and Ran jumped as they touched its surface and puffed into small plumes of brilliant white smoke. More runes on the stone began to glow a stronger cyan.

"Affix the feathers," said Planter, looking up at Oracle to give her a nod.

The same purple glow around the stick surrounded the feathers and brought them up from the ground and laid them out in concentric circle patterns at the thinnest part of the stick. A glowing length of grass cord flew up from the ground with a click of Oracle's beak, and wound itself around the stick to secure the feathers before tying itself into a knot. The xatu rolled the stick over and nodded at Planter.

Again, the lurantis took a deep breath and then carved another set of runes into the stick in the blink of an eye. She exhaled long and slow, and then said, "Let it go, and in so doing let it fulfill its purpose."

The glow faded from the stick, but it did not fall. Ran heard the whisper of rushing wind tickle her ears and the stick slowly righted itself in the air, until it gently bobbed up and down, floating perpendicular to the stone beneath it.

"Excellent work once again, Planter," said Oracle, looking pleased.

"Don't congratulate me yet. We're not sure if it works," mumbled Planter.

"It's floating!" said Ran, incredulous. "How could it not work?"

The lurantis chuckled. "Experience. You want to be the brave one to give it a wave?"

Ran walked forward and took the wand in her claws. "How do I use it?"

"Point it at something and believe. Let that belief flow from you into the wood," explained Oracle.

"Believe what?"

"Believe that it will work. You need not know what a wand does, you need only trust it. Do so, and it will trust you. Do so, and you will know when it has given all it has to give," she added.

Ran looked about and spotted a small boulder, no larger than half her height. She strode over and looked down uneasily at the wand, then at the rock. She raised the stick and pointed at the stone. "Hah!" she shouted.

Oracle burst into laughter behind Ran, and she could also hear Planter politely chuckling. "No need to vocalize," explained Oracle. "But it is imperative you believe. You do not, and no amount of shouting will make up for that. Again."

Believing was hard work. After several dozen insistent flourishes, Ran stared down at the wand with incredible frustration. "Why isn't it working!?" she shouted.

"Perhaps we did something wrong..." wondered Planter.

Oracle chuckled. "We didn't. She's just not committed." She strode over beside Ran and brought a wing up to her and pulled her in.

The weavile turned and looked at the xatu. "I can't do it."

"You aren't allowing yourself to," said Oracle. "Allow yourself to. Believe you can do it. Believe it will work."

"Couldn't I just...shout something? Tell it, 'hey, work!' and then it does so?" asked Ran, desperate.

"No, but that would be nice, wouldn't it?" reasoned Oracle. "Believe. Trust the wand. I know you can do it."

"You sure?" asked Ran.

"Everyone here is," said Oracle, patting Ran on the back as she did. "Now show that boulder what for."

Ran looked Oracle in the eyes, then down at the wand, then at the boulder. The fight to cling to the mamoswine earlier began to weigh on her thoughts. She shook her head insistently, trying to clear it and mumbled to herself, "Just do it, just do it, just do it..." She sighed and stepped forward, and in one motion flourished the wand at the boulder.

It went sailing out above the treetops as a huge rush of wind exploded from the tip of the wand, but Ran noticed that it left the grass around the boulder, the trees behind it – everything – completely still. Awestruck, she glanced down at the wand and then back at Oracle and Planter.

"Great job!" cheered Planter.

Oracle nodded in agreement. "Excellent work indeed, Ran." She paused and then looked out past the trees. "But I liked perching on that boulder. It was my favorite."

Ran looked mortified. "I'm sorry!"

"I'm kidding."

The weavile pouted. "Stop doing that!"


End file.
